The William Burr Prize in Nuclear History

About this program

The Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations and McGill-Queen’s University Press jointly award the annual William Burr Prize in Nuclear History for the best PhD dissertation or thesis on any aspect of nuclear history worldwide. The winner receives CAD $500, mentorship on developing the dissertation into a book, and a manuscript workshop, with McGill-Queen’s University Press receiving first refusal for publication in its Global Nuclear Histories series. Applicants may be of any nationality or institutional affiliation, and self-nominations or supervisor nominations are welcome. Dissertations must have been submitted in final form between January 1 and December 31, 2026, and an electronic copy must be submitted by February 1, 2027; non-English dissertations require an English translation of the introduction and at least one chapter.